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Birds eating my ferric phosphate slug pellets

geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
edited May 2022 in Problem solving
I understand it does them no harm but it is an inconvenience.

Sometimes I go to the trouble of covering them with  horticultural  fleece.

Any other ideas?

Do they maybe need to be wetted?Might that make them less attractive  to the birds?

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  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    I had the same problem with pigeons eating the pellets. I ended up netting the area for a couple of weeks to keep the pigeons away.
    If that isn't possible, maybe put the pellets down at night when the birds are roosting.
    Sunny Dundee
  • geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
    Yes ,I do it in the evening too.
    But I suspect they get them anyway .
    I just keep supplying  the ground  semi regularly in small quantities  and not too close together  that hopefully  don't attract the birds. 

    I also have pigeons  but it is not them ,I think as I saw  a different  bird taking them  when I sprinkled them too liberally  at first.


  • lopezharry0cA9O1sN5lopezharry0cA9O1sN5 Posts: 3
    geordief said:
    I understand it does them no harm but it is an inconvenience.

    Sometimes I go to the trouble of covering them with  horticultural  fleece.

    Any other ideas?

    Do they maybe need to be wetted?Might that make them less attractive  to the birds?

    Ha ha trouble and inconvenience to you my friend, but poison to them never mind eh!!
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @lopezharry0cA9O1sN5.  I never realised you were friends with Geordie,  funny the things you learn on a forum.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
    lopezharry0cA9O1sN5 said:
    geordief said:
    I understand it does them no harm but it is an inconvenience.

    Sometimes I go to the trouble of covering them with  horticultural  fleece.

    Any other ideas?

    Do they maybe need to be wetted?Might that make them less attractive  to the birds?

    Ha ha trouble and inconvenience to you my friend, but poison to them never mind eh!!
    Please tell me where you have learned that ferric phosphate pellets are poisonous to birds.


  • geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
    Has anyone found a way to use up the pellets if water gets into  the container and turns them to sludge?

    I have tried drying them out and  using the  largish lumps that I break it down to....

    They loose their blue colour .Does that matter to the slugs ?Is it just smell for them?
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @geordief I would take them to a local refuse centre and dispose of then safely. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
    edited March 2023
    I think they are very safe.The salesman for them at my local garden centre was reported to have eaten them in front of the owner saying they are 99% wheat(with the remainder being non toxic)

    If I had to "safely dispose"of them at the local refuse centre I doubt I would be using them in the first place.

    Edit :can those who feel this product is unsafe explain why they hold this position?

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @geordief The problem is no one knows what this kind of intervention is doing in our gardens.
    The results of messing with nature often become apparent decades later. We should accept slugs and snails as part of our gardens, without them there would be no food for birds.


    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • geordiefgeordief Posts: 21
    I didn't realise that.

    .Escargots off the menu for me then.(and I will discard the brolly and keep the moisture for the lice-and slugs- in my hair)
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